Catching the Customer Click: Better CTAs and Subject Lines

Arguably, the most important words in any email you send are your subject line. Those few precious words stand between your message and the trash bin…or worse, the spam folder.

Email use isn’t growing as steadily as it once was, but the average consumer still sends and receives roughly 88 emails per day. Who has time to open that many emails? No one. That’s why consumers have become increasingly selective about the emails they’re willing to read—and why sparking their interest with a strong subject line is critical.

How to Pique Their Interest

There are many approaches to crafting the perfect subject line, and many of the principles also work to earn CTA clicks. Let’s talk about some of the most effective approaches with some good examples from my inbox.

5 blogs we ♥ Tumblr throws in an emoji to shorten their subject line even further.

9. Alliteration is catchy. That’s why they use it in song lyrics. It works for subject lines, too. Groupon really digs the alliteration thing:

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Groupon also likes rhymes:

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10. Be funny. Humor isn’t easy, but it’s rare and stands out. Among the thousands of emails I looked at, only a few attempted humor. Here are a couple from Rakuten:

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Better CTAs

Effective calls-to-action (CTAs) rely on the same principles, only with fewer words. The most important element you can use to earn CTA clickthroughs is a sense of urgency. To increase conversions, convince your readers they’ll miss out if they don’t act now.

If you’re working with a targeted email list, you have a better chance of email opens and CTA clicks regardless of your subject line. Keep your list updated and fresh, and provide the kind of quality content your readers will want to open every time. Consistent quality is the best way to catch the customer click.